#The One Who Wields Magic and Science // Kihara Eiichiro

[project-rebirth]

A Certain Irregular Mental Academy

Prologue - Reality Assimilation: New_york_disaster.

10 years ago, May 2nd, New York City, 3:27 PM

May 2nd was nothing more than an unremarkable day.

In the ever busy city that was New York, this day was as normal and average as the previous, and there was the expectation that the proceeding days after it would be the same. Every one was living out their own lives, free of the dangers that were lurking in the shadows.

Several children were playing in Central Park, a business man was getting off of work early, several politicians were in a meeting inside a building talking about public security, and a traveling business man had just gotten on a plane which took off and was now on its way back to japan, all so he could return to his wife and son.

It truly was an unremarkable day.

But within the next instant, that all changed.

A tremendous sound resounded through the air, followed by a blinding flash of light. The light was so radiant, it was even brighter than the sun itself. But those who were not in the immediate area, safe from such a light like the japanese businessman realized one thing and a fitting term for such settled on their minds before it was even revealed through the smoke.

Destruction.

A section of NYC had been utterly devastated by an explosion of great size. From that alone, one could already tell the number of casualties was going to be tremendous. There were not that many people that could have survived such an event in the immediate area.

The man, one Kamijou Touya was thankful that he was on a plane heading back to japan when he did. He had almost missed his flight and even though the airport he had gone to was away from the blast site, there was no telling what could have happened to him if he remained there for any longer.

The children that were playing in central park was not that lucky.

They were caught in the blast, but did not suffer a instant death like those in the epicenter. Those people had had their bodies burned by the flames, charred to a crisp while some were fortunate enough to only get a fatal burn, others were hit by shrapnel from buildings and other objects that pierced through their bodies, and then there were those who were completely blown away, landing on a tree or other object that either fatally injured them or had killed them on the spot due to the nature of the injuries.

A girl, age 7 and Japanese as well, probably was the lucky one out of everyone there. She had burns, cuts and bruises all over her body, but she had not suffered extremely severe wounds or died instantly. She laid on the ground, unable to comprehend what had happened, unable to even scream in pain as her mind had not been able to process the event that had occured so suddenly.

Only a few moments later did she scream, but not out of pain from the state of her own body, but rather from seeing the state that her parents, her friends and their parents were currently in.

Their bodies were unrecognizable.

Her screams were loud and haunting, but it was only one of many that were crying out for someone to save them.

The businessman that got off work and the politicians were all killed in explosion, as they were in the immediate area. At the end of the day, this was a great disaster that New York had not seen since the fall of the World Trade Centre, a fact that many thought would not have to live through again. At the end of it all, over 678,000 people were killed in the explosion, and 1,010 were injured, however most of those people had died as well due to blood loss.

But this wasn't just an accident.

At the end of the day, American politicians on both the Liberal and Conservative parties blamed the disaster on Syria, who they believed had planted a bomb to kill the politicians who were meeting at the time in Ground Zero, which not only led to their deaths but the deaths of many others who were unrelated.

Some felt that World War 3 would have started then and there, however in the end, the result was a war constrained only to the United States and Syria which was devastating in its own right. The results of that war was still being felt in that region to this very day.

But in reality, this had nothing to do with Syria. They were merely the scapegoat for such a disaster because the relations between the two nations was rocky at the time.

No. This event had far more reaching consequences than what was told to the public.

On that same day, an incident occured on the other side of the world. Over in japan, there was Academy City, a landlocked sovereign city-state whose territory consists of a walled enclave within the Tokyo Metropolitan Employment Area. It is a city of several schools and institutions of higher learning from kindergarten to university level that learn side-by-side along with the scientists who research on psychic powers and higher technology, the latter being one of the primary reasons for its establishment. It is the most advanced city in the world and its technology is said to be 20 or 30 years ahead of the world. It stood at the top of the world of science and technology as a result and has remained virtually unchallenged, even with the Romefeller Family and their many private institutions among others being competitors.

But Academy City had not avoided its own disaster.

This was not as bloody or destructive as the event in New York, but it was concerning in its own right. That day to Academy City had been known as Dark Thursday.

It was an event that caused the city to enter a citywide blackout, causing all systems to go dark, and to add on that, every esper who was in the city, regardless of level or status had entered a coma that lasted for 24 hours straight. To this day, officials had no idea how this happened and as a result, urban legend enthusiasts and conspiracy theorists had talked about both incidents on the internet. Some believe the NYC disaster and Dark Thursday were unrelated, that they were two separate incidents that happened at the same time, but some believed that there was a connection.

And although that was the case, no one was closer to the truth whatsoever.

Except one person.

Yes.

The disaster was not caused by Syria as the world believed, and Dark Thursday was not just a random spontaneous event that happened at the same time. The disaster was caused by one person who lived in Academy City,

His name is---

***

"Kihara Eiichiro-kun."

The cute looking teacher in a classroom of Nagatenjouki Academy called out, the name of the student garnering recognition from those inside. They of course knew who he was --- who didn't? As far as everyone there was concerned, he was a genius in every sense of the word. He was technically brilliant enough that he did not need to go to school, however he chose to do so anyway.

But that genius student was no where to be found.

"Eh? Where's Eiichiro-kun?"

The teacher asked, using a less formal way of addressing him. That would have raised some eyebrows in other classes, but this was normal here.

"Ah! Y'know, he did say something about taking the day off! Something about working on a project?"

"Is that so? Haaa, I suppose it's fine then..."

The red haired girl's comment caused the teacher to sigh. Of course, the boy in question did have excused absences due to projects he was undertaking, so this was not out of the ordinary as far as he was concerned. Still, it couldn't be helped and the class continued about its day.

But speaking of which, where was Kihara Eiichiro?

***

The genius was currently in his laboratory in District 19.

It was where he undertook more of his experiments which primarily consisted of himself as a test subject. He was a bit strange as far as espers went and even stranger as far as Kiharas were, partly due to his nature as a humane scientist. He refused to take part in experiments that violated the rights of other human beings, and it was because of his stance on this that he was shunned by most members of that twisted "family". Only those like Kihara Noukan were among the few that could tolerate him.

It was currently Janurary 25th, a Thursday. Indeed, thursdays gave Eiichiro a sour feeling due to the event it was linked to 10 years ago. He was the cause of Dark Thursday and the Cataclysm of New York due to an experiment he was undertaking at the time. Of course, no one save for the Board Chairman, the Board of Directors and most of the Kiharas knew that it was Eiichiro who had done this, but even so, it didn't matter that much.

Since that day, he had sworne that he would never experiment on anyone ever again, that he would only experiment on himself and himself alone. He didn't want for anything like that to happen again.  

Of course, Academy City had been recently rocked with incident after incident, the more notable ones being December 23rd, or the Red Moon Sky Event, an incident that resulted in many deaths, injured civilians and personal, and trillions of yen in damages. It was officially explained as an Esper going rouge but the similarities between that and the  Cataclysm of New York was stark. It gave Eiichiro a bad feeling.

And then there was the event that happened on the 21st of this month, ust a few days ago  where bizarre creatures were rampaging about, along with a tremendous explosion that had been felt throughout the world, another event that shook the world to its core. The fact was these sorts of incidents on the scale of what was happening 10 years ago and in World War 3 did not sit well with Kihara Eiichiro at all. Something was coming, and it was only a matter of time before that something made itself known.

"...."

But perhaps the most startling thing for him was the fact that something within him was...changed. To put it simply, he had something he did not have before.

A strange power in his right hand.

This power had the ability to send things somewhere, but where he did not know. All he knew was that he had this power and he had to learn how to use it, to understand it before doing anything else. One wrong move, and this power would send someone to a place they could never return from.

But despite not knowing of its origins or nature, one name came into his mind. It was a name that he felt was fitting for such a power.

"....World Rejector. I've read about a similar power confined in the right hand of another, but this is on a completely different level."

Kihara Eiichiro remarked, staring at the hand which held such a power.

These were not normal times.

There was much to be done in terms of researching and investigating.

So he would do it. As a researcher of his own standing, he had to look into this.

"I suppose this is where my secondary role as an investigator also begins."

---

A Certain Irregular Mental Academy

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